Via Climateer, a new video out from Earthjustice (the legal arm of the Sierra Club). It features Governor Sebelius’s recent speech at the Earthjustice event out in CO, where she discusses the recent Kansas coal controversy.
The original post is from New Energy News, which also has some comments from Iberdola wind project manager Krista Gordon. Krista is currently working on two new projects in KS right now, in Ellis and Trego counties (just west of the Lincoln County wind farm on I-70). Iberdola already runs Pete Ferrell’s Elk River wind farm (150 MW) down in Butler County.
At this point, the Ellis County project (200 megawatts) appears to be moving forward. The County Commission just voted 5-2 to approve it (Hays Daily News.)
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
EDIT: ENTRY HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH ADDITIONAL PHOTOS!
All these trips – CEP’s carbon footprint is stinky lately. Yes, we buy offsets, but you still don’t feel good about the travel and the carbon dioxide. I’ve been thinking about stealing my husband’s truck and burning the bio(diesel) for these little jaunts.
The drive to Omaha was lovely, though (if you ignored the flooding) – blue chicory and orange day lilies are blooming all along the ditches.
Anyway. Getting pictures of wind turbines makes it all the carbon worthwhile. These are from Rock Port, Missouri. Rock Port (pop. 1,395) plans to be the first city in the nation to get all of its power from wind turbines.
Rock Port is much like any Midwestern small town along a major highway – it has the gas stations and fast food over by the big road, and you have to drive a little bit to get to the real town. They have their Casey’s General Store, the farm/ ag implements store, more churches than you can shake a stick at, and a cute tiny downtown hanging in there for dear life. A liquor store on the edge of town. Lots of pragmatic looking Morton buildings.
Rock Port has installed four Suzlon wind turbines of 1.25 megawatts (MW) each (5 MW total). The development is called the Loess Hill Wind Farm. There were plenty of cows grazing under the turbines but somehow I didn’t get any of them in the image.
It really, really did look different than Kansas wind development - I can’t explain it. Seeing turbines so close to trees, maybe that was it. Plus their ridges are closer and tighter, running along the bluffs of old river valleys formed from much harder rock than our limestone. KS ridges come from old prairie rivers (ie, broad and sweeping) and the pressures of ancient sea beds atop limestone. Just different.
According to the EERE website, construction of the wind farm was by the Wind Capital Group of St. Louis, which “specializes in small-scale wind developments for communities in Missouri and the Midwest.” John Deere Wind Energy out of KC handled the financing.
The Loess Hill Wind Farm is right close to the Cow Branch wind farm, which is 50 MW. This is a crummy picture, sorry, but (a) I didn’t want to get run over or trespass to get a better/ safer one, and (b) I was running horribly behind.
Technically, I think the Rock Port Loess Hill Wind Farm would probably get called community wind. That’s accurate on some level – but I really think “municipal wind” would be a better term. Muni gives a better sense of the forces behind it, as well as how they have to fit the development into their existing utility structures and relationships. Also from EERE:
The Missouri Public Utility Alliance in Columbia will purchase excess electricity from Loess Hills when the output from the wind power plant exceeds consumption in the town. This alliance provides electricity to Rock Port Municipal Utilities, which distributes to customers in town. The wind farm is sized to provide enough electricity over the course of a typical year to match electricity consumption in the town.
Community wind or muni wind, whatever you call it, both wind farms are small enough to be good examples of distributed wind. This is where you shoehorn small installations into the existing grid.
The advantage is – hopefully – that these many small locations add stability to the grid, versus the grid depending on so many large and centralized power sources. Small wind farms also offer additional energy resources so that big utilities can back off fossil fuels more often.
And in Rock Port, it also gives them an additional sense of being more energy independent, and making use of local resources.
UPDATE: More (and better!) images of the Loess Hill and Cow Branch wind farms. These come courtesy of Brian David of EPA Region 7, who toured the site as part the Region’s Energy Tour just a week or two ago. Forty-five EPA staff members attended.
On this one, you can get a sense of the roads that connect wind turbine sites – these roads are part of the farms, and are necessary for construction as well as the daily operations and maintenance.
What a Suzlon 1.25 MW turbine looks like from the underside -
I think this is actually the skyline of Cow Branch wind farm. Whether those lines were pre-existing or added later (or were upgraded) – don’t know.
thank you for the photos! :)
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Walk the Talk: What will it take to go green?
June 27, 2008
According to a new survey of public opinion, Americans are shifting their thinking on green living (info located by CEP’s Christina!) (RBC Capital). Some would argue the shift is slight. Some would say it is significant.
Some of the major findings: Americans are less likely to object to nearby renewable energy installations, such as wind power, and 4 in 10 are considering moving closer to their place of work to cut down on driving.
Also very interesting – six out of 10 said they believed that their personal activities have a meaningful impact on global warming, yet 20 percent admitted they are not taking any steps to reduce their own carbon footprint.
More interesting findings (reprinted from the article):
Six out of 10 say they would rather pay more for cleaner fuels, but an almost equal number of Americans (58 per cent) say it is more important to keep the green in their wallets than to participate in green initiatives.
76 percent said they are driving less, 19 per cent are using or plan to take public transportation more often and 11 percent have made or are considering carpool arrangements.
82 percent of respondents said they will consider buying a hybrid when they purchase their next vehicle.
Americans with incomes of more than $100,000 are also feeling the energy pinch, with 48 per cent saying they are dining out less often and 21 per cent saving less for retirement.
When asked how their summer vacation plans have been altered, half of those surveyed said they are either staying locally or are not vacationing at all.
Almost two-thirds of Americans said they would support a ”holiday,” or repeal, of the federal gas tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Of this group, none said they would drive less, and nearly 20 per cent said they would actually drive more because they could afford to.
Only 16 per cent of Americans said that they would oppose the construction of any type of energy plant or facility in their hometown, down from 23 per cent in 2007.
Seventy-one per cent of Americans said they would support an alternative-energy system in their hometown, including a wind or solar facility, up from 58 per cent last year.
Although a majority of Americans attribute the rapid rise in gas prices to a lack of oil refining capacity in the U.S., eight out of 10 said they oppose the construction of an oil refinery in their hometown.
When asked if the U.S. will ”find a solution to its energy problems in your lifetime,” 66 per cent of survey respondents said no, up from 42 per cent last year. Eight out of 10 Americans polled said they will consider a candidate’s stand on energy issues in this year’s presidential election, an increase from about five out of 10 in 2004.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
News Updates: distributed wind in MN, spies don’t like climate change, jobs and state energy efficiency policies
June 26, 2008
Minnesota does groundbreaking study on how to get small and community wind into the grid. (North American Windpower) Quotable: “The study’s goal was to identify a total of 600 MW of small renewable energy projects that could be operated in the transmission grid with few or no changes required to the existing infrastructure. Dispersed renewable energy involves wind, solar and biomass projects that will generate between 10 MW and 40 MW of power. The second phase of the study will seek to identify an additional 600 MW of renewable energy and will begin this fall.”
Spies coming in from the cold. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) The U.S. intelligence community is much much less than pleased about the prospects of global warming and climate change for their already difficult job (US News and World Report). The full report will remain classified. Quotable:
“We assess that no country will be immune to the effects of climate change, but some will be able to cope more effectively than others,” says Thomas Fingar, who heads the National Intelligence Council, which drafted the assessment, adding that sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Central and Southeast Asia would be the hardest-hit regions. “However, the spillover—from potentially increased migration and water-related disputes—could have a harmful global impact.”
The full report, issued as a National Intelligence Assessment, is classified, and officials say they are not planning to release it. The NIA is distinct from the better-known National Intelligence Estimates by being more speculative and relying more heavily on public sources. Both represent the consensus judgment of the nation’s 16 intelligence agencies and carry great analytic weight in Washington.
In particular, they are concerned about the impact of climate change on agriculture.
Economic impact of energy efficiency. Energy efficiency means jobs. These jobs can help offset economic impacts of fighting climate change thru carbon regulation. Findings from the ACEEE on the economic impacts of energy efficiency at the state level: “The set of studies reviewed in this report demonstrate an average of 23 percent efficiency gain with a nearly 2 to 1 benefit-cost ratio; a 20 percent efficiency gain by 2030 could provide an estimated 800,000 net jobs while a 30 percent efficiency improvement might generate as many as 1.3 million net jobs; and efficiency-led policies, in effect an emphasis on greater energy productivity, would likely increase the nation’s economy (as measured by our Gross Domestic Product, or GDP) by about 0.1 percent by 2030.”
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Solar train racing on
June 25, 2008
Where wind was a decade or so ago, solar is now. Alerted by the recent history of wind, all sorts of folks are now circling solar, trying to figure out where and when and how to jump in. Save the world? Make some money? :) I just heard some green entrepreneur out there ask: What’s the difference?
Hold that thought. Reprinted straight from the Department of Energy’s EERE newsletter:
Study: Solar Power Could Provide 10% of U.S. Electricity by 2025
Solar energy currently provides less than 0.1% of the electricity generated in the United States, but a new report finds that solar power’s contribution could grow to 10% of the nation’s power needs by 2025. The report, prepared by research and publishing firm Clean Edge and the nonprofit Co-op America, projects nearly 2% of the nation’s electricity coming from concentrating solar power systems, while solar photovoltaic systems will provide more than 8% of the nation’s electricity. Those figures correlate to nearly 50,000 megawatts of solar photovoltaic systems and more than 6,600 megawatts of concentrating solar power.
As noted in the report, solar power has been expanding rapidly in the past 8 years, growing at an average pace of 40% per year. The cost per kilowatt-hour of solar photovoltaic systems has also been dropping, while electricity generated from fossil fuels is becoming more expensive. As a result, the report projects that solar power will reach cost parity with conventional power sources in many U.S. markets by 2015. But to reach the 10% goal, solar photovoltaic companies will also need to streamline installations and make solar power a “plug-and-play” technology, that is, it must be simple and straightforward to buy the components of the system, connect them together, and connect the system to the power grid.
The report also places some of the responsibility with electric utilities, which will need to take advantage of the benefits of solar power, incorporate it into future “smart grid” technologies, and create new business models for building solar power capacity. The report also calls for establishing long-term extensions of today’s investment and production tax credits, creating open standards for connecting solar power systems to the grid, and giving utilities the ability to include solar power in their rate base.
For the full report, click here.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
News Updates:
June 25, 2008
Tornado recovery – sharing the love. Greensburg KS (hit by a tornado a year ago) and Chapman KS (hit by a tornado a couple of weeks ago) are bonding over their similar situations. Greensburg is helping to offer advice to Chapman. (TCJournal)
Kansas businesses, listen up! (via CEP’s Eileen) The Greater Kansas City Climate Protection Partnership, coordinated by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, has a super-cool carbon calculator for businesses. CHECK IT OUT. You don’t even have to be from KC.
Big box stores moving toward energy efficiency. Office Depot, Kroger, Safeway, WalMart – yes, you just read that right. Saving energy saves money. Energy efficiency is mainstream (WSJ Environmental Capital blog)
Speaking of, Home Depot will now accept CFL’s for recycling (they contain a small amount of mercury). (NYTimes)
Big brains on the future of energy. As very helpfully indexed by Climateer, the Economist magazine has released a new energy issue that you can read online. It is indeed actually readable by the rest of us. The good, the bad, and the ugly, it’s all there.
Overfishing. You read that right too. I just really liked this article. How overfishing oceans relates to Kansas – this article tells the larger story of what happens to communities when they deplete their resources for short-term economic benefit. Ie, they lose jobs and when you lose jobs you have to move and you lose your community and relationships and family connection to place. And then you start figuring out what to do different. I read this and in my head substituted “soil fertility” for “fishing” every time. Cautionary tale (CSMonitor)
Climate drama. One of the consequences of climate change is increased incidences of extreme weather, like droughts and flooding. These all have side effects – depending on the ecosystem, for example, drought can also lead to increased rates of wildfires, disease, etc. In flooding, you can also get undesirable species populating like crazy – ie, mosquitoes. Which carry more disease. Etc.
Along those lines, an unseasonably early “dry” lightning storm set off wildfires all over northern California. Is this specific weather event related to the larger issue of climate change? Maybe. Quotable: “You’re looking at a pattern that’s climatologically rare. We typically don’t see this happen at this time of summer,” said John Juskie, a science officer with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.” (Yahoo/ AP)
Scientists have discovered that extreme weather related to climate change can intensify normally insignificant disease outbreaks. It was theorized that this could happen, but now a team of researchers believes they have proof. Quotable: “Weather extremes can create conditions in which several fairly harmless diseases converge at once, creating a “one-two punch” that can devastate populations of wildlife or livestock. “When you have these extreme swings it will tend to synchronize these kinds of co-infections, which are likely to be more common with climate change,” said Craig Packer of the University of Minnesota, whose study appears in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE.” (Rueters)
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
CEP video – Where Does Kansas Stand?
June 23, 2008
Climate and energy policies are key in helping states to make the transition to a new energy economy that is far less dependent on fossil fuels.
Where does Kansas stand on these policies?
CEP decided to find out. Enjoy the video!
For more information on the research behind the video, please go to our main website. Scroll down that link to find additional links, and/or download the powerpoint that was the basis of the video.
Lots of thanks to our intern Ben Morgan, who got the video component rolling.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
This weekend MH headed out to Jetmore for a family reunion. Kansas wind folk might have just thought – hmmm, isn’t that close to the Spearville wind farm?
Yes, it is. This is the view from my uncle’s front yard/ pasture. He lives south of Jetmore. The zoom on my camera did beef it up a little. No one at the reunion but me (and my Dad) seemed to notice them on the horizon.
For comparison, this is what’s left of the little windmill that stands just back of the farmhouse, which powered the original pump for the farm (which had dairy cattle at one point). It also occasionally powered car batteries that then ran various farm and household devices. Another uncle had a hilarious story about climbing out of his window one night and shinnying up the windmill. He got caught. He ended up sleeping in the field the rest of the night (with the rattlesnakes. So he said).
And as we were driving in from Dodge, my dad stopped and insisted I also take pictures of the transmission lines serving the Spearville wind farm (as well he should). That’s my car in one of those pictures, just for scale. It’s a CRV.
He asked – “Are these the size they are talking about putting in between Spearville and Wichita?” I said that I was by no means an expert, but that I bet these were considerably smaller. Smaller tower, wire, right of way, I don’t know which. But I do bet they are smaller than 765 kV.
Overall impression of southwest Kansas right now – they have it as dry there as we have it wet here. Pretty crazy.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Midwest flooding. As floodwaters across the Midwest slowly start to recede, two interesting factors have emerged. FIRST: A report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program confirms that global warming will result in extreme weather events happening more frequently (AP, Rocky Mtn News).
No one can prove that recent Midwestern floods are related to climate change. They can only point out that their severity and increasing frequency fits the pattern.
However, they can prove that the impact of severe weather events (whatever their causes) can be made much worse by poor land use patterns (CSMonitor). Building in flood plains, fast run-off from farm fields and urban developments, draining of wetlands, etc.
Energy efficiency in Kansas. Fantastic article, Salina Journal. Just read the whole thing. Quotable: “In a document filed earlier this year with the Kansas Corporation Commission, Westar is frank about the significance of its new direction. “If we were to follow that (traditional) approach, we would be building a baseload coal plant, similar to those at LaCygne or Jeffrey, to become commercially operational in the middle of the next decade,” the company said in the document, “Meeting our Customers’ Energy Needs — A Strategic Plan for Uncertain Times.” “… The departure is a shift from the norms that have characterized our industry for decades. We are now entering an era where environmental considerations will weigh heavily in shaping the understanding of and policy for energy development in our country.”
Wind energy operations and management jobs. ND is trying to get community college wind training programs in gear, like we have here in KS (AP). Interesting numbers: “A general rule of thumb is that a two-person operation and maintenance team is needed for every 10 turbines.”
New directions for coal power. A MO facility is one of the first to experiment with a biomass pellet/ coal blend for electric generation (KCStar). And nationally, a feature on Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers (NYTimes Magazine) who is trying to push the industry toward both cap and trade, and less high-impact ways to burn coal.
Westar will soon break ground on another new wind farm (CNNMoney.com).
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
News Updates: floods in Midwest, insurance opportunities in climate change, climate refugees
June 20, 2008
CEP is on the road to Jetmore, KS, via Greensburg, but thanks to the magic of timestamped blog entries you can read our posts all day! exciting I am sure.
We saw yesterday that Midwestern floods are creating problems with coal supply, now they are affecting ethanol plant planning and production. Reuters.
Flooding – where nature stops and humans begin. Hard to tell. GREAT AND SCARY ARTICLE. Read it. Washington Post. Basically, while the floods were caused by torrential downpours, their effects were probably made worse by poor land use patterns.
Quotable: Enshayan, director of an environmental center at the University of Northern Iowa, suspects that this natural disaster wasn’t really all that natural. He points out that the heavy rains fell on a landscape radically reengineered by humans. Plowed fields have replaced tallgrass prairies. Fields have been meticulously drained with underground pipes. Streams and creeks have been straightened. Most of the wetlands are gone. Flood plains have been filled and developed. “We’ve done numerous things to the landscape that took away these water-absorbing functions,” he said. “Agriculture must respect the limits of nature.” …”I sense that the flooding is not the result of a 500-year event,” said Jerry DeWitt, director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. “We’re farming closer to creeks, farming closer to rivers. Without adequate buffer strips, the water moves rapidly from the field directly to the surface water.” … Corn alone will cover more than a third of the state’s land surface this year. The ethanol boom that began two years ago encouraged still more cultivation. Between 2007 and 2008, farmers took 106,000 acres of Iowa land out of the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers to keep farmland uncultivated, according to Lyle Asell, a special assistant for agriculture and environment with the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR). That land, if left untouched, probably would have been covered with perennial grasses with deep roots that help absorb water.”
The floods in rural Iowa are also causing huge water quality problems, as animal wastes, farms chemicals, and sewage all roil together in the floodwaters. Guardian/ UK. Mosquitoes are also breeding like crazy. Rural wells are contaminated.
Quotable: “In downtown Cedar Rapids on Monday, all manner of refuse could be seen floating down the Iowa River – 55-gallon drums labeled “corrosive,” propane tanks, wooden fences and railroad ties. Dead birds and fish sat on the city’s 1st Avenue Bridge. A few blocks away, a paint store stood with its windows blown out. A line indicating the high-water mark could be seen about eight feet above the floor. At the gas station next door, strong currents had knocked over two pumps. Also mixed into the floodwaters are pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer from Iowa’s vast stretches of farmland.”
Insurance companies figuring out how to create products related to global warming. Reuters. Commercial insurance – ie, insurance for companies who invest in new carbon-saving technologies that are untested and have a risk of not working out.
Quotable: “Underwriters are busy coming up with new insurance policies, and fine-tuning already existing products, to provide broader coverage to companies grappling with a wide range of emerging climate-related risks. These include regulations that are being crafted or implemented around the world requiring companies to provide greater disclosure of risks, and to reduce energy use in order to meet new carbon emission rules. Insurers are rolling out the new products in the wake of increasing scientific evidence that man-made carbon dioxide emissions are fueling an increased chance of global catastrophes.”
Globally, climate change is already creating increased numbers of refugees. Times Online. Quotable: ” Announcing findings that the number of refugees worldwide had risen steeply for the second year running, António Guterres said that environmental degradation induced by climate change was forcing greater displacement as resources became increasingly scarce.”
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
For wind junkies – check out your wind resource! type in your zip code and see what pops up
June 20, 2008
This from Eileen – check out AWSTrueWind’s new Navigator. (Yes this is the same firm that just developed the new 70 m wind map for KS).
It’s more meant for utility scale wind. The lowest hub height you can check is 60 meters, which is probably also helpful for some community wind. Anything smaller, you need to do your own little wind study with an anemometer. But the tool is really neat to play with – and gives you a nice idea of resources in your area.
Yet another nice activity to while away a summer afternoon… if getting outside and playing is not an option.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Your Friday video extravaganza. First from EDF -
And now, lovely actresses telling you to use CFL lightbulbs! (If you want to know how to recycle the lightbulbs click here for a pdf handout)
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
News updates are moving to digest format. Life is busy. That is good.
Update on Wind Working Group meeting in Salina yesterday – Duane Schrag, Salina Journal. Center of discussion – wind manufacturing, transmission development, and net metering.
Does pro-business necessarily mean pro-coal? Letter to editor from LJWorld
Seas are warming faster, rising higher, polar ice caps shrinking faster, too – Rueters. We heard this on the news last night and my husband said “I don’t believe any of these predictions anymore. If they say it’ll be gone in ten years, I think it’s more like two.” Wasn’t much I could say.
Colorado gets a Siemans wind research center, Texas gets a Vestas, Climateer - I feel certain KS too will get something wonderful some day. AHEM. Sooner would be great.
Federal production tax credits for wind more than pay back their worth in tax dollars, GE study finds – CNNMoney
Jetmore to add two refurbished wind turbines that will provide 12% of community’s electricity – Dodge Globe
FYI – some of the top search terms that people use to find CEP on the web: warner-lieberman carbon cap, kansas wind energy manufactures, wind leases, wind jobs, wind map kansas, leasehounds, wind turbines kansas i-70, water and energy
Some of the weirdest – sexy thought of the day, mccain & kcpl
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
K-State Wind Application Center cooperate to install elementary school wind turbine – Kansan.com.
Quotable: “Ruth Douglas Miller, a member of the Wind Applications Center at K-State, said Walton Rural Life Center was an attractive site for a wind turbine because she believes wind power will provide jobs in rural settings in the future. “When there is a wind farm there is a need for people to operate them,” Douglas Miller said. “And that happens in rural areas. In fact, in big cities we really don’t want to build wind farms. Let’s get these kids excited, say ‘This is cool’ and consider careers in wind.” The turbine was lifted into place by Westar Energy Tuesday morning as students and interested adults looked on.”
Kansas Energy Council member gives reactions to presentation on energy efficiency by Summit Blue – Kansas Health Institute.
Quotable: “Gunn said conservation programs can be effectively administered either by utilities or the state. He said successful programs include strong education and marketing campaigns and often provided consumers with financial incentives. State policies also can play a role. Minnesota requires electric utilities to spend between 1.5 percent and 2 percent of their revenues on energy efficiency and demand-reduction programs. But Sen. Jay Emler, R-Lindsborg, chairman of the Senate Utilities Committee, said he didn’t think Kansas lawmakers were ready to impose a similar requirement. He said some alternative steps might include setting conservation targets for state government and initiating a consumer education campaign. “Education is so important,” he said.”
To maintain and improve the electrical grid – let alone integrate more renewable energy – the nation desperately needs new transmission lines. There’s some pushback.
California transmission line drama – LA Times
Minnesota transmission line drama – (really well researched story) – Minnesota Post
Landowners receive legal advice on how to develop their wind resources – Garden City Telegram
Quotable: “The afternoon speaker, (Mike) Irvin (KS Farm Bureau Legal Fdn), spent time talking about what landowners wanted to know most about: money. He told landowners to view energy companies not as enemies, but as business partners. He outlined the lifetime of a wind farm in four parts: The pre-development stage, the lease and construction stage, the operation stage, and the remedial stage where the wind farm is decommissioned. The third stage, the operation stage, could last from 20 to 150 years. Irvin said. “This is a long-term venture. It’s going to affect your kids, great grand-kids and their kids,” Irvin said. He also urged landowners to make sure the energy companies pay for everything associated with the wind turbine, including transmission lines and roads. “If you’re going to take something from me, pay me for it,” Irvin said. Irvin outlined the different ways landowners can be compensated for wind energy, including: an up-front, lump sum payment; annual rental payments per turbine, per megawatt or per acre basis; and royalty payments based on a percentage of the revenue of the project. Irvin said land owners should think twice about receiving a lump-sum payment per turbine, because inflation and the cost of living likely will rise. But Irvin also cautioned that turbines, like vehicles, need maintenance. He said if a turbine needs maintenance and isn’t generating revenue, royalty payments won’t mean much. “I’d like to see a royalty mixed with a lump sum payment,” Irvin said. “Protect yourselves.”
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Busybusybusy, here’s the highlights of climate and energy news lately, especially as it affects KS and the Midwest.
Note first: Everyone here is talking about the weather. Tornados, floods, crops harvest commodities it’s all about the weather. And bemoaning or boasting about the state of our tomato plants after said weather. I’m fighting blossom drop. too much wet.
News:
More on the KS connections of sustainability architects working in Greensburg – Salina Journal. Quotable: “ After all, Hardy said, while nothing might be left of grandma’s house, many people still feel an attachment to the land it was on — and wouldn’t want to be told it was going to be the site of the new city hall, library or park. The property lines were still intact, Wedel said, and “if a plot of land has been in the family for four or five generations, going back through your parents, grandparents and to your great-grandparents who settled it,” that plot retains some importance. “We quickly learned that without any buildings, what you think of as a community, the community is still there,” Hardy said. “All of what you think of as a community is gone, but the relationships are still there.”
East Kansas Agri-Energy, LLC, Garnett, Kan. wins award from EnergyStar/ EPA for cutting greenhouse gas emissions – EPA press release
Utilities scrambling as floods compromise railways and delay coal shipments; prices could rise even further as a result - CNNmoney
Controversy over financing coal plants with bonds – Reuters – Even new coal plants with up to date pollution standards are at risk due to upcoming changes in regs re CO2 emissions. Quotable:” Thompson called on the federal government to investigate how tax-exempt bonds are used in building the plants because current plans are “based on outdated assumptions and a suspension of disbelief that the risks will be managed or wished away.”… But Moody’s, which gave the bonds a “A1″ rating, also warned that there are “no assurances that environmental regulation will remain the same. Any federal legislation that addresses greenhouse gas emissions could have an adverse impact on the cost of coal-fired generation.” Changing environmental regulations, including limits on the pollutants, or greenhouse gases, released into the atmosphere, is one threat to all coal plants’ viability, Thomson wrote. “Plants constructed under current rules will incur new financial obligations to curb greenhouse gases,” he wrote. He also said that AMP-Ohio is “proceeding based on the assumption that ratepayers will simply pay any price increases without question.” Problems could arise if they rebel against the increases.”
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
News Updates: real quickies
June 16, 2008
Not going to get to an official post today (maybe even tomorrow) so read these super-interesting articles:
Anyone catch the premiere episodes of the Greensburg show on Planet Green last night? If you want to waste some great time at work (no, CEP of course did not do this), check out the show’s website. Beware of the car commercials that will pop up and deafen you on the video clips, tho.
Kansas 2008 tornados already triple the annual state average – Wichita Eagle
“Preliminary statistics from the National Weather Service show that 172 tornadoes have been reported in Kansas this year — the most in the nation. Iowa is next at 134, and Missouri is third at 127. As of Friday, 1,577 tornadoes had been reported in the U.S. this year. Last year saw 1,093. While final statistics are typically lower because some preliminary reports are multiple views of the same tornadoes, officials say the numbers are still eye-opening. Kansas’ total is triple the state’s annual average, for example. But that’s not the number that troubles Dick Elder, the head meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Wichita office. He’s bothered by 118, the number of tornado deaths nationwide — the most in 10 years. “It just seems like the number of killer tornadoes is way up,” Elder said.There have been 33 killer tornadoes this year, including three in Kansas.”
Record moisture levels in Midwest – Cattlenetwork.com
Weather-beaten economy – impact of floods on markets – Christian Science Monitor
Wind energy taking off in China – Business Week
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Walk The Talk: abundance, scarcity, and asking questions
June 15, 2008
by Maril Hazlett
Beautiful Sunday afternoon – our household is relaxing after a large family meal (the family all went home and that is why we can now relax). Several animals and one husband are asleep all around me, orioles are building a nest outside the porch window, and I’m thinking about the current global food crisis.
I “got” to host the family brunch. To save my sanity I kept it pretty simple – an egg dish, salad, coffeecake. We picked flowers out of our own garden.
I’m not sure if those around the table realized it, but most of the food they ate was produced locally: Eggs, dairy, bacon, flour, vegetables. The sugar, baking soda, coffee, spices, olive oil for the salad dressing, the chocolate – those ingredients all came from much further away than Kansas.
If you look at that list, it’s pretty clear that Kansas can produce the basics. Luxury agriculture, like chocolate and sugar, no…(sadly)… but the protein and vitamins that most of us need, yes. We’re fortunate, we’re blessed – however you want to put it.
Abundance. Today, my family experienced that. Yet at the same time, our country faces scarcity. Food prices in grocery stores all across the nation are skyrocketing. According to the New York Times, prices of staples have risen – eggs are up 25%; milk, dried beans, peas and lentils, 17%; cheese 15%; bread 12%; pasta and rice 13%.
More than 10% of Americans now experience food insecurity – uncertainty over where their next meals will come from – and food stamp enrollments are rising fast. Our friends in different parts of the country report seeing missing items on grocery store shelves. Food shortages are closer than most Americans think.
There’s global food shortages. Also reported in the Times, Haiti’s staples have risen more than 45%. The hungry and desperate population has rioted. Bread riots also occurred in Cairo. Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Senegal – hungry people are angry people. Angry people often become violent.
Kansans feed people. We pride ourselves on it. We’re kind of a mom state. If people are hungry, Kansans start to wonder why.
And we start to wonder if there’s anything we can maybe do a little different.
News Updates: Tornados in Kansas, weather and climate
June 13, 2008
Tornados. I was going to wait to post on these until there was a final tally… but you know what, they keep coming.
Most notably, on Wednesday night Manhattan and Chapman KS suffered a great deal of tornado damage.
An estimated 60% of the housing stock in Chapman is gone, including churches and other community gathering spots. The K-State campus suffered over $20 million in damage. The Wind Erosion Center is completely destroyed (yeah) and the building that houses the nuclear reactor was damaged. The reactor is apparently intact. I have to believe we would have heard about it if it weren’t.
We just heard from CEP buddy Ben Champion (Director of Sustainability at K-State). He was on his way out the door to help volunteer with picking up the debris. He mentioned that it was really impressive how trees are twisted and tangled and torn apart all over the city
The Salina area also recently got hit. Last night there were tornado touchdowns (the kind where the tornado zips up and down like a careless giant slinky – if you’ve ever seen it you know what I mean) from Emporia on up to the Topeka area and even Jefferson County. Flash flood alerts went off on the weather radio all night.
I know there’s more tornados and I am missing them here and I am sorry. There have literally been so, so many. In the most recent spate, two people have died. In some places there have been problems with looting.
Weather? And/or climate? According to NPR, the U.S. is on its way to a record year of tornados. Already over 100 people have died. The upper Midwest is also suffering greatly from flooding. I think I read somewhere that over half the counties in IA are now disaster areas. Corn. Wheat. Commodities markets. Yeah. Hmm. And all that water has yet to work its way downstream.
So, here’s the question I get a lot – is this extreme weather caused by climate change?
First, let’s make a distinction. Weather is different than climate. Weather is short term and more localized, climate works on much bigger scales.
Weather and climate are different – but they are still related. When it comes to tornados, there are at least (at least!!) two things that could be going on.
(1) Cooler temperatures out in the Pacific due to a La Nina. When cool air travels across the U.S. land mass and hits our horrible heat and humidity at ground level, boom, you have conditions for tornados. La Nina is a long-established weather cycle. Is it being affected by global warming? Unclear.
(2) Climate change is the result of global warming, which is where greenhouse gases (like (carbon dioxide) trapped in the earth’s atmosphere heat it up. When you add to the heat load of the atmosphere, weather patterns can intensify. Heat is a powerful fuel for extreme weather .
There’s a lot of unknowns in this scientific equation. Perhaps the best way to analyze it is in terms of potential risks. If you ask that question a different way – such as, can climate change contribute to risks of extreme weather – then the answer is definitely yes. This is confirmed by the IPCC reports.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
News Updates: Energy issues in the upcoming elections
June 13, 2008
CEP is a nonpartisan organization with an interest in energy policy. In certain Kansas races, energy looks like it could become an interesting factor in the mix of issues (education, health care, etc.) This will certainly affect policy outcomes for the 2009 session.
The election picture varies widely depending on what part of the state you are in. In the western half of the state, more incumbents are running unopposed (ie, see list from Dodge Globe). In the eastern corner especially, races have much more opposition (see KCStar). For a list of all races, check the Secretary of State’s website.
Democrats have filed in record numbers, although they have yet to surpass the Republicans. Republican filings are down. Moderate Republicans are continuing to switch parties to run as Democrats (Hutch News).
In some of the upcoming races, the past coal controversy is of course a factor. The future of the wind industry and related economic development is a powerful issue as well (see Brown (I) v. Kelton in the Eudora News, Sloan (I) v. Wilson in LJWorld, and Brungardt (I)/ Arpke v. Perney in Salina Journal).
Interested in talking about energy to candidates? First, check out our main website’s newly revised Quick Facts section.
In coming weeks, look for our “Conversation Starters” – downloadable fact sheets that give interested citizens a place to start in asking candidates about climate and energy issues.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Live blogging: Notes from the Kansas Energy Council full meeting on energy efficiency and wind
June 12, 2008
The full Kansas Energy Council met this week to discuss carbon regulation and energy efficiency. Hot day, cool and windowless room, lots of people crammed in.
Yale scholar Dr. Robert Repetto was scheduled to talk about cap and trade in national climate policy – but his presentation fell victim to the airline industry. He ended up stranded in Hartford, CT.
Only his paper made it to Kansas. It’s an extremely cool paper and will probably be posted on the KEC website, but we all missed hearing him speak. Quotable from the first paragraph:
The United States is approaching a tipping point in climate policy. After decades of relative inaction, the federal government is very likely to adopt a national policy within the next few years requiring reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. This presents enormous opportunities and risks.
The point of KS policymakers hearing Dr. Repetto speak, of course, was to help them figure out how the state can capitalize on the opportunities and avoid the risks. (For example, Warner-Lieberman offered incentives to reward states that had been early adopters of climate policies.)
The second speaker was consultant Randy Gunn of Summit Blue, presenting the draft results of an energy efficiency study commissioned by the KEC. The study focused on demand side management (DSM), or ways for utilities to get customers to reduce energy. (Energy efficiency measures also exist on the generation and transmission side.)
The study drew from a national pool of data, with an emphasis on utilities in the Midwest whose information was publicly available (or made available to Summit Blue, as in the case of KCPL and Midwest Energy). It also took into account the different ranges of state policies on EE, as well as the fact that each utility starts from a different baseline of resources and alternatives.
What can Kansas utilities expect to gain from energy efficiency? Gunn cautioned that not everyone should expect to do as well as California has. In our case, it’s much more reasonable to try and catch up with Iowa or Minnesota first.
After the presentation, the KEC reported on how its recommendations from the last legislative session had fared - several got caught up in the coal bills and died with the vetoes. The Kansas Energy Office also reported on the legislative history of the coal bills.
The KCC gave a quick overview of its most recent EE docket. This was the first of two dockets, and the date for release of the second (originally scheduled for August) has been pushed until later in the fall.
The KEC Electricity and Greenhouse Gas committees also gave their reports – a suggestion that the full KEC hear a presentation on the KCC wind study was rejected. The Electricity Committee’s draft chart showing baseload generation resources in Kansas was presented. There was a request to see wind resources in the state placed on the chart as well. The response was that this information is available in other places.
There was also some discussion of the Governor’s new energy policy advisory group, KEEP (Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy). KEEP is carrying out the climate plan process that KEC rejected last year.
It was asked how KEC and KEEP might complement or conflict, and if there would be redundancies and overlap. The response was that yes, there might be, but energy is such a huge issue in Kansas that you can’t have too many people studying it – also, KEEP sunsets in 2010 while the KEC presumably lives on into the next administration.
Additionally, it was mentioned that the legislature’s new joint committee on energy and environment is probably meeting earlier than many of us had expected – by statute the group starts in November, after the elections. However, the planned members of the committee will meet this summer to get started, and their appointments will be confirmed after the elections.
Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson spoke at length on the growth of the wind industry in Kansas. In particular, he discussed wind as not only an energy resource, but as a driver for economic development – in terms of the jobs that wind turbine manufacturers could bring to the state. At the recent AWEA conference in Houston, it was obvious that other states are spending huge dollars to aggressively pursue these businesses – Arkansas, Colorado, and Iowa among them.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
